The Hidden Technology Behind Every Hotel Booking

The Peabody just opened a luxury hotel inside The Peabody. Doug Browne, President of Peabody Hotels & Resorts, joins me on No Vacancy to explain the thinking behind the new Pembroke Club. The hotel takes an already premium experience, creates an even higher #Luxury tier and gives guests who want more service a reason to pay for it. The Pembroke Club team starts working with guests before they arrive, coordinates their arrival and stays involved through departure. The Peabody doesn't simply charge more — it adds enough value to justify the rate. That's a smart #Hotel business idea, especially for established luxury properties looking for new revenue without changing the entire operation. And yes, because this is The Peabody, Doug and I also end up talking ducks and expensive booze. See why this hotel-within-a-hotel strategy gives #Hospitality leaders something worth thinking about. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Glenn Haussman, Craig Sullivan and Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera finally did Friday Night Audit together in the same room, and Memphis got the honor of dealing with all three of them. They broadcast from Kooky Canuck, right across the street from the famed Peabody Hotel, with giant drinks on the table and friends from the Southern Lodging Summit dropping in throughout the show. Producer Dave joined remotely, the conversation went wherever it wanted to go, and the original live audio decided it wanted its own starring role. Good news: this rebroadcast fixes the audio, so now everyone can actually hear the nonsense properly. This is Friday Night Audit exactly where it belongs: friends around a table, cocktails in hand, hotel people wandering into the conversation and absolutely no commitment to staying on topic.  Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

A major hotel brand doesn't need to make every property feel the same. I toured the Embassy Suites Downtown Asheville with Jack Benton, Area Director of Sales & Marketing, and this hotel takes plenty of inspiration from its surroundings. Appalachian textures, mountain-inspired design, open public spaces, meeting areas that connect naturally with the rest of the hotel and guest rooms with unobstructed views give the property a strong sense of #Asheville. The hotel also packs in more than you might expect. Its 188 suites include flexible connecting-room configurations, its meeting spaces handle groups of up to 300 people, and the Michelin Guide recommends its rooftop restaurant. What I really wanted to understand was how a major #HotelBrand creates this much individuality within a familiar flag. Jack explains how the hotel team worked with the brand to develop an experience that connects directly to Asheville and the surrounding mountains. Take the tour and see how this #EmbassySuites uses design, location and the Asheville experience to give guests something much more specific than a standard branded hotel. Subscribe to No Vacancy for more hotel tours, conversations and behind-the-scenes looks at the people and properties shaping hospitality. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

A popular band you've never heard of announces a tour, demand suddenly takes off in a market, and a short-term rental owner misses the signal and leaves money on the table. That's one of the examples Anurag Verma, co-founder of PriceLabs, and I get into while walking along the Chicago River. PriceLabs watches what's happening across individual markets and combines those signals with an operator's own data, giving #ShortTermRental owners a much broader view of demand than one property alone provides. And the scale gets pretty wild. PriceLabs works across 600,000 listings and prices inventory 18 months to two years into the future. Anurag explains how that data gives smaller operators access to sophisticated #RevenueManagement tools without forcing them to become professional revenue managers themselves. We get into demand signals, last-minute pricing, when discounting makes sense and when it doesn't, and how technology gives operators more confidence in the rates they choose. Plus, we do all of this while walking the #ChicagoRiver on a day when Chicago apparently decides to impersonate the surface of the sun. Listen to this one and see how much smarter pricing gets when you stop relying on one property's data and start looking at what the entire market tells you. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

The hotel room someone books online sits at the end of a massive web of technology, partnerships and decisions most of us never see. Danielle Von Weyhrother, Head of Sales North America at HBX Group, joins me on No Vacancy to pull back the curtain on #HotelDistribution. HBX connects hotels with airlines, travel agencies, OTAs, loyalty programs and more than 100,000 clients worldwide, helping hotels reach demand far beyond the obvious booking channels. Then #AI changes the equation. Danielle explains why rates, inventory and room photos don't tell technology enough about a hotel. The details that make a property unique now matter more in connecting the right traveler with the right experience. And yes, rainbow-colored ice cream somehow becomes a great example of exactly what she means. There's a lot happening between "I need a hotel" and "I booked this one." This conversation reveals how much #Hospitality technology influences that decision before most of us ever realize it. Thanks to our friends at Actabl for supporting No Vacancy. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Something enormous is happening with hotels in India, and I don't think enough people realize the scale of it yet. I brought Bruce Ford, SVP of Lodging Econometrics, back to No Vacancy because the numbers coming out of #India are pretty staggering, but the real story goes much deeper than the size of the pipeline. Global hotel companies are making major moves across the country, investment is accelerating, and Bruce sees development spreading into markets that barely register on most people's radar today. And this isn't simply another #HotelDevelopment boom. Bruce explains why this cycle looks very different from the last big push into India, what changed, where the opportunities are emerging, and why the #Hospitality industry should start looking at India very differently. Some of the numbers Bruce drops during this conversation genuinely surprised me, and they may change how you think about where the next major era of hotel growth will come from. Thanks to our friends at Actabl for supporting No Vacancy. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. And if you want more conversations like this, subscribe to No Vacancy so you don't miss what's coming next. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Friday Night Audit gives hotel company presidents a dangerous combination: cocktails, bad ideas and three people absolutely convinced they know how to run the business better. Red Roof President Zack Gharib made the mistake of joining us this week. We insisted our advice was genius. Zack knew better. Between drinks, Craig Sullivan started designing a red-jacket tradition for Red Roof, Suzanne Bagnera battled technical problems, I kept one eye on a pork butt creeping toward 205 degrees, and Zack kept the whole thing moving despite the rest of us. Then we reached the Final Four of the Friday Night Audit Hotel Pet Peeves contest — the Four Horsemen of Hotel Misery — with Outlet Desert facing Identical Dispenser Bottles for a trip to the championship round. Suzanne picked a side. Zack picked a side. Craig picked a side. I mostly tried to keep the pork alive. See who Zack backed, hear the ideas we tried to foist on him, and find out how much nonsense one hotel president tolerates before happy hour ends. #FridayNightAudit #RedRoof #HospitalityIndustry Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

What happens when you build a hotel around elves, orcs, fairies and leprechauns — and commit fully to the idea? Ancient Lore Village has just 14 rooms, yet some of its social videos draw millions of views, including one that topped 25 million. Now CEO Melissa Blattner is taking the concept much further. I spoke with Melissa about why immersive storytelling connects so strongly with guests and what separates a real experience from something a hotel simply calls an "experience." Plenty of hotels deliver perfectly good stays. Far fewer create something guests remember, talk about and share. That's what Ancient Lore Village is trying to do every day. See how Melissa builds those experiences and why she thinks the idea can grow far beyond 14 rooms. Thanks to our friends at Actabl for supporting No Vacancy. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

What if the biggest problem at your hotel isn't what you're missing? Heidi Stone knows that trap well. She took over Mountain Lake Lodge — the Virginia resort made famous by Dirty Dancing — when the lake had dried up and the property had plenty working against it. Her answer wasn't to obsess over everything that was wrong. That mindset changed the property, and it shapes how she looks at independent hotels today. If you own or operate a hotel, there's a very good chance you're spending time and money fixing the wrong things. Heidi explains where she'd look first — and why some of the most valuable changes may cost far less than you think. Thanks to our friends at Actabl for supporting No Vacancy. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.  

Some of the biggest hotel construction opportunities in the world right now are taking shape across Asia Pacific — and India is accelerating fast. I spoke with Lodging Econometrics' Bruce Ford about where hotel companies are placing their bets next. India's hotel pipeline nearly tripled over the past three years, and Bruce expects a construction wave there for the next five to seven years. China brings a different story, with huge numbers of rooms opening, major renovation activity and development patterns that look very different from what we typically see in the U.S. If you want to understand where global hotel growth is heading next, see which Asia Pacific markets Bruce thinks deserve the closest attention now. Thanks to our friends at Actabl for supporting No Vacancy. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.